Saddle and Ride

Saddle and Ride is typical Ernest Haycox--great! The story centers around the hate of one man toward another over a woman--a typical scenario. This hating man wants all of the land--again typical of a western story. The man hated has a grief he has been trying to get over for 10 years, and eventually does--typical. There is a another woman who wants to help in any way she can, only to cause more trouble because she is a woman living in a land of violent men--typical. Add all of these typical things together, add Ernest Haycox to the mix, and it makes for a novel that shouldn't be dismissed as typical. Ernest Haycox had a flair and a way with words and situations that no one else has ever managed to copy; and in so doing he left an imprint on the "western" yet to be improved upon. I rank him second only behind Zane Grey, and then not by much. His books are not romances like Zane Grey's were, yet they are probably more realistic, more like real life than the others. Ernest Haycox was an historian, and he put accuracy and exactness in his work and in his words. His last two novels, The Earthbreakers, and The Adventurers are true historical snapshots of how life was for the pioneer who went west to Oregon. The Border Trumpet and Bugles in the Afternoon are two of the best cavalry novels ever written set against historical events. A novel like Saddle and Ride is a sensational novel of the West containing every element, and more, that any reader of western or historical fiction would want. Highly recommended.

The story of rancher Clay Morgan defending the rights of all against rancher Ben Herendeen who is an overbearing bull of a man wanting to run all the small ranchers and nesters out of the country, Clay is a widower with a nine year old daughter, who married the woman that Ben wanted 10 years ago and the woman dies soon after giving birth hating Clay for the life she had lived in their short time together, this eats at Clay thru most of the story, there are 2 other women with eyes for Clay, ain't he the lucky guy:-), a story that would have made a very good movie. Lots of riding (hence the name perhaps) action and shooting. I am in the process of buying more Ernest Haycox books right now, Stagecoach is a good short story from which the movies, 3 I believe were made.